Heroes of War
by Ghostgirl468
Summary: 'Why did you do that? came a thought, not one of his own, but in the voice of a young girl. Because I was ordered to, he answered'. Character death. Don't expect a happy ending. R


Hero of War – Order 66

Yes, yes, it's another 'Order 66' story, but I decided to take my chance and write one, just to see if it would pan out.

**AN**: You know when you right a sad story and you get half way through and realise that its possibly too sad for you to bear? That happened quite a lot during this actually (although I get upset really easily). I kept looking back and thinking 'Why the hell did I write that?' and go back to change it. But I didn't, because sometimes the sad stories need to be written.

_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own any of the characters or plot in this story. I have simply filled in the blanks.

_**Warning:**_Character death. Lots of it.

oOo

_In doing what we ought, we deserve no praise nor no criticism, because it is our duty - _Joseph Addison

oOo

_"Now children, today is your first day of training, in which you will learn the basics of the war you are fighting in, and your loyalties. Do you understand?"_

_There was a simultaneous "Yes Miss", as the twenty-something clone children in the room sat down cross-legged and watched the screen light up in front of them, swarming through pictures of weapons, shields, enemies and allies, to which they were all taught a word and a grouping; good or bad. _

_By the end of the lesson, the Kaminoan stood gracefully and clapped once, "Well done children, you are now ready to move onto combat. Please line up, one at a time"._

_There was a competitive dash between a few, and some pushing and shoving between others, but an order was an order and the children carried it out effectively._

_Standing at the front, the teacher opened a large drawer out of which she drew a blaster, and handed it to the first child, speaking to him quietly. The child then left the room and the process repeated itself._

_Somewhere in the middle of the line, Cody stood, fidgeting nervously, and craning his ears to hear what was being said to everyone. He was itching to get a blaster, the urge to shoot built into his blood. The call to arms spurring in his mind. The glory of war pushing him forward. _

_When finally he reached the front, his arms lifted out for the blaster eagerly, and he was awarded with a soft chuckle before the metal cooled his hands. _

_"Now child, with this, you will see the galaxy. Do you promise to serve the Republic, and carry out every order?". There was no pause. 'Yes!' Screamed the word in his head. Cody nodded, still staring at the blaster in awe. _

_"Good, you will remain loyal to them until your dying days. And remember child, you are on the side of good. Now and forever let that be your loyalty". Then he was pushed to the side and into the combat room. _

_A few years passed, and now Cody was a fully grown clone, hair cut into shape, armour shining brightly, march practised and perfected, undergoing the final stages of his training. Walking back towards the barracks, removing his helmet with a grim smile, Cody thought back to the training session. He felt like he'd done something wrong, but couldn't place it, and it was irritating him. _

_Just then another clone ran into his side, and punched his arm with a grin. Rolling his eyes, Cody examined the scuff on his helmet whilst only half-listening to Rex' emphasised description of his own training. A younger clone than him, Rex was still in the middle of his training, and would remain here for a year after Cody left. Rex was a more reckless fighter, always running into a fight without any proper planning, a complete parallel to Cody. But even though his attitude was rebellious, strangely enough when it was needed, Rex__** could**__ stop and use his head. _

_He was in a different sector, training for the Blue Squadron - whilst Cody was in the Yellow - but this hadn't stopped the two being best friends. In all truth, the friendship had been down to their first meeting, and their first meeting had been completely by chance; Rex had ran into Cody when he was in the mess, scattering the tray of food on top of the two of them. This was of course the perfect opportunity to punch him in the face, but Cody had instead been unable to stop laughing. *_

_Now Cody focused back onto Rex and his words. "...And you're nearly out of here, just a couple of weeks left right? Can't wait until I leave, I'm going to be the best. A hero, really, they'll be damn proud of me back here, flags and medals and everything. Must be brilliant getting out..."_

_Blurring him out again, Cody smiled, a genuine one this time, and thought ahead. Yes, he was leaving in a couple of weeks. Leaving to fight, in real wars, against real enemies, for a real side. The good side. His mind made a stern note never to stray from that thought, before it decided it was hungry, and there must be something decent to eat in the mess... _

oOo

Today, an order buzzed through every com-link, every helmet, ever ear that belonged to every clone trooper in every squadron of the Republic. An order which turned them against their Generals with a click of the fingers, against those who had led and protected them for years, those they had been loyal to. Those many had died for.

Today, across the galaxy, hundreds of Jedi, and those friends to them, were shot in the back, or the front if they thought fast enough, forever-more unsure of what had happened in that split second.

Today, Order 66 fled across the stars, and wiped out every notion, every thought, simply to replace it with a whispering voice and an unexpected twist.

…At the time, Commander Cody had been where he usually was. Where years of loyalty, and perhaps friendship, demanded him to be. At the side of General Kenobi, following through every order, and relaying others through to his men.

The static hum had sounded when Kenobi's back was turned, distracted with finding Grievous. Another fact that Cody remembered as clear as crystal was that he had been the only one near the General. It would have been, should have been, so unbearably simple to shoot the Jedi and have it done with. But in a brief second of confusion, where he was lost in the disbelieving thought that he had to flick from one side to the other in less than a seconds hesitation, Cody didn't shoot him.

Instead, the rest of his men arrived and began their own, pointless, aimless shooting - thinking back now, Cody thought, and felt slightly better thinking, that they were doing so _deliberately_ - and of course Obi-Wan had reacted rather quickly and fled, still very much alive.

If someone where to ask him, Cody might admit to the fact that he had never wanted to kill Kenobi. It was just an impossible thing to ask him to do. But much like the impossibility of Anakin Skywalker ever turning on his fellow Jedi, he knew with certainty that he would have gone through with it, simply because it was his duty to do so.

Now, his heart was slightly colder, that which was left, as he led the storm of troopers through the Jedi temple, firing at every living thing they found. Behind them, a trail of massacres ached as guilty reminders of what they were doing, but none of them looked back. They looked forward, to the cloaked Jedi-turned-Sith who was leading them on, and a shared thought flashed through their minds; that there was an ever so slight possibility that this was wrong.

But as clones, the thought meant nothing more than a subconscious nagging, and it was ignored.

Still, leading the 212th through rooms of children and broken Jedi, Cody felt that they shouldn't be here, loyal or not. He started to stop, he even started to state the word out loud thinking maybe he could decipher the warning in his head and show it to the others. But then, lifting his blaster, he joined in, his foot falling forward, his visor staring at the fight in the way a soldier did, shooting into the enemy again and again. And again.

oOo

Click. Hum. Buzz. Turn. Walk. Draw. Shoot.

That was the sequence in which everyone moved, after the order came through, the same sequence Rex followed.

The click was unpredictable, and by the time he registered it, unstoppable. The hum and buzz weren't difficult, no more than it should be. Just another command patching through piece by piece. Either was the turning. Or the walking, that was fairly easy too. Drawing a blaster; well, he did that every day, didn't he? But, the shooting...The shooting, yes, he also did every day. Droids. He shot droids. Because droids were the bad guys and they were the good guys. But how...How to shoot a Jedi?

Point and click, that was what logic told him. Aim for the head, that was what strategy told him. Why the hell are you shooting Jedi? That's what common sense told him. And for once he didn't have a clue how to answer.

_They can't be the bad guys_, he thought distantly as he watched Bludger and Hammer fire a series of blasts into General Unduli.

_They were fighting on our side, weren't they?_, he pondered as Bariss Offee lunged into attack and was subsequently shot in the shoulder by Match.

_Were they lying all along? _he debated over as his eyes watched a third Jedi falling, one he couldn't remember the name of.

All the questions swirled and mixed and moulded into Rex's head until he wasn't quite sure what he had been asking in the first place.

Then everyone stopped, and Rex picked up on the silence and looked up, to find all of the Jedi dead, except for one. A young, orange-skinned, girl who stood near the far wall, lightsaber drawn, eyes staring at them in confusion and terror and pleading.

_Asohka,_ he noted, and momentarily wondered why she was so afraid.

And then he looked around and saw that the troopers were looking at him, waiting for him, and he realised what they were waiting for. Rex looked down at the blaster in his hand and remembered the order and remembered that he hadn't shot anyone yet, and that they were waiting for him to shoot her, so they could confirm he was on the same side.

But...No, wait...What side again? Good? No, because the Jedi were good, weren't they? Bad, then? But he couldn't be on the bad side, because that went against his training, _their_ training. It was…wrong. Wrong, wrong. Wrong.

Was that right? Maybe, probably, possibly...No. He decided it wasn't right. Something must be messing with his head, because orders were orders.

He took two steps forward, lifting the blaster towards the girl, and staring straight at her. There was a falter in her step, and he watched in slow motion the moment where the hope left her, and she took a step forward too, lifting the lightsaber slightly higher.

Without thinking Rex shook his head, begging her silently not to move, not to attack. To just stop, surrender. But she kept moving, edging closer.

So he fired. Straight into her heart. In less time than he realised had passed, the blood had already began to soak the ground, and with a final gasp she collapsed, the weapon falling from her hands.

Pausing, Rex noticed that it was getting dark. Why hadn't he realised that before? And then he noticed that the blaster had fallen from his hand and onto the ground. Strange. Looking down, he glanced at his armour, where medals rested, attached to the suit. Medals for all sorts; Blue for bravery; Silver for courage; and Gold…Gold for loyalty. There were scars too, everywhere, hidden under the armour but still there. Scars for what? But his mind returned to him without an answer again, and he frowned.

_Why did you do that?_ came a thought, not one of his own, but in the voice of a young girl.

Slowly, Rex tore apart the question, thinking over answers, but none of them seemed to fit. A shuffling footstep behind him reminded him suddenly where he was.

Drawing to a conclusion, Rex picked up his blaster again and looked around, nodding to his men. As they began to walk away, back towards the ship, Rex clipped the blaster back into his belt, and swiped away the gold medal with distaste, not looking at it, not even thinking about it, as it fell to the ground and into the blood.

_Because I was ordered to_, he answered.

oOo

"Soldiers of the Republic! Today, as you well understand, I learned through much sadness and sorrow that the Jedi have been lying to us all along in an effort to destroy the Republic! I thank you sincerely my loyal fighters, for taking immediate action and disposing of this threat and its numbers. There are few Jedi that remain, and they will not be able to undermine us with such little a force. Today I ask you to take the step forward, into a new age, where the Republic are stronger than they have ever been, and we shall fight until every last Jedi is dead!"

A cheer sounded, hollow, slightly empty if you listened hard enough, but loud. Thousands upon thousands of clones lined the great, vast hall on Coruscant, taking "the step" they were being told to, and forgetting the past in one swift wipe of the slate.

Somewhere in there, somewhere unimportant, a soldier dressed in splatters of yellow walked into a similar soldier in blue. The two apologised quickly, looking up at the same time, before eyes clicked in recognition, and heads dropped slightly.

And then footsteps paused, although neither could really say why, just that there was a sense of having lost something that really should be there. There was simply silence, and then Cody looked up and smiled grimly, before nodding once in acknowledgement, "Rex".

Rex did the same, and looked around at his brothers. It wasn't difficult to notice the flash of anger in his eyes, but he didn't voice it. Instead he nodded too. "…Loyal to the Republic", he stated after another moment, and saluted to persuade himself that it was true. But then, as an afterthought, he couldn't help but mutter, "A hero of war..."

There was a small, soft, barely noticeable nod from Cody, but neither was sure if it was because he had heard the words, or because he was simply nodding to be polite.

And then the two saluted at the same time, and shuffled past each other, moving on, into their new squadrons, their new service; the new fight. Both of them were well aware that they would probably never meet again, not in this sort of world. The final glance was one of understanding, one which came with shared thoughts, quiet and obedient as they flickered and burnt out.

_Never again. From now on we are clones, short and simple, here to fight and to die and that is all._

And then they left, disappearing back into the sea of clones as if they had never met.

oOo

In the days that passed, and then the weeks and months, and finally the years, both never did meet again. Instead they simply fought what they were ordered to, shot what they were told to, did what they were asked to. They carried out their service with the promise they had made; to remain loyal to the Republic until their dying days. They never questioned their new authority; they never hesitated in killing a Jedi.

Somehow, in some way that Cody never really questioned, he learned about Rex's death after an attack against the gathering rebel forces. Cody couldn't quite imagine Rex being killed by people who were once their allies, but that had been what had happened. He took the news with a nod, and a brief envious thought that Rex had escaped. And then he continued on.

But no matter how much control he was led with, there was never any certainty that he didn't think. Think back, back to way before he had even joined the Republic. Back to when he was just a child, lined up with the rest of the class being handed a weapon and shoved into war. Back to when everything was easier to see, the good and the bad of it. Back to one question.

_Do you promise to serve the Republic, and carry out every order?_

And back to the recurring, regretting, reminding thought of what might have been different if he had said no.

oOo

Yes, some character death there. Sorry.

Thank you for reading until the end. Feel free to comment and review, because it's always lovely to do so :)

- Ghostgirl468


End file.
